Garment for medical treatment

ABSTRACT

An example garment in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure includes an article of clothing covering at least a portion of a body of a user, an access port providing an open space through the garment for a medical device, and a removable patch covering the access port.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENT APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No.61/734,160 filed on Dec. 6, 2012.

BACKGROUND

For various reasons, healthcare professionals may need to gain access toa patient's skin. For example, the patient may require chemotherapy ordialysis treatments, or any number of other treatments. In order for theaccess point to be exposed for healthcare professionals to prep andaccess, patients arriving at healthcare facilities may need to disrobeor change into a gown.

The need to obtain access to certain parts/sites on a patient's body forexamination or treatment requires that a patient wear a hospital gown.Such gowns are not suitable for street wear and do not allow a patientto move around a hospital since they have large openings enabling readyaccess by medical personnel for examination or treatments.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Example implementations are described in the following detaileddescription and in reference to the drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates an example garment in accordance with the principlesdisclosed herein;

FIG. 2 illustrates an example patch in accordance with the principlesdisclosed herein;

FIG. 3 illustrates a view of the example garment of FIG. 1 duringoperation with a patch that is detached in accordance with theprinciples disclosed herein;

FIG. 4 illustrates an example garment in accordance with the principlesdisclosed herein;

FIG. 5 illustrates a view of the example garment of FIG. 4 duringoperation with a patch that is open in accordance with the principlesdisclosed herein;

FIG. 6 illustrates an example garment in accordance with the principlesdisclosed herein;

FIG. 7 illustrates a view of the example garment of FIG. 4 duringoperation with a patch that is open in accordance with the principlesdisclosed herein, and

FIG. 8 illustrates a flow diagram of a method in accordance with theprinciples disclosed herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Various implementations described herein are directed to garments thatcan be worn by patients during medical treatment. More specifically, andas described in greater detail below, various aspects of the presentdisclosure are directed to a manner by which a patient may wear agarment with port access patches while receiving treatments involvingchemotherapy or alike, which requires chemotherapy or dialysis ports.

Aspects of the present disclosure described herein implement an articleof clothing with a patch for the body allowing medical access to apatient's body by removing the patch. According to various aspects ofthe present disclosure, the approach described herein allows a user toutilize a garment allowing comfort or warmth while providing the healthcare providers easy access to the skin to connect the devices usedduring the treatment, without the need to remove any clothing, to rollup or down sleeves, or otherwise manipulate clothing to receivetreatment. Accordingly, the approach described herein allows for easyaccess to patients' ports by simply removing the patch completely orpartially to uncover the port, which may then be placed back on duringor after treatment. This also provides safety by preventing any tuggingat the IV needle, which may cause harm to the patient and nurses ifexposed to the skin.

Moreover, aspects of the present disclosure described herein alsodisclose garments which are suitable as regular clothing outside of amedical facility in addition to allowing the patient to remain active ormobile prior to or after they receive medical treatment. Among otherthings, this approach allows the user to wear garments that arefashionable. Further, the patches may be interchangeable. Accordingly,this approach advantageously provides the user with the option to wearthe same shirt with different patches for a different look.

In one example in accordance with the present disclosure, a garment isprovided. The garment comprises an article of clothing covering at leasta portion of a body of a user, an access port providing an open spacethrough the garment for a medical device, and a removable patch coveringthe access port.

In another example in accordance with the present disclosure, a methodfor making a garment is provided. The method comprises providing anarticle of clothing covering at least a portion of a body of a user, thearticle of clothing having a removable patch situated over an accesspoint, the access point receiving a medical device to be applied to thebody of the user. The garment is used for receiving medical treatment.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example garment 100, which provides nurses andother medical staff easy access to patient's skin and implanted ports inaccordance with an implementation. The garment 100 according to thepresent disclosure comprises a removable patch 110, which is describedin greater detail below. It should be readily apparent that the garment100 depicted in FIG. 1 represents an illustration and that othercomponents may be added or existing components may be removed, modified,or rearranged without departing from a scope of the present disclosure.For example, while garment 100 illustrated in FIG. 1 includes only oneremovable patch 110, the system may actually comprise a plurality ofremovable patches, and only one has been shown and described forsimplicity.

The garment 100 may be used by medical technicians and nurses to removethe patch 110 without exposing any other portion of the patient's bodyto administer treatment. In one implementation, the garment 100 mayinclude an article of apparel, such as a shirt, which covers the upperbody of the user. The garment 100 may be any configuration suitable forcovering the body. For example, it may be a long or short sleeve shirt.In another implementation, it may be a sleeveless shirt. In furtherimplementation, it may be a pullover, or jacket-type shirt orsweatshirt. More specifically, the shirt may have a crew neck, a v-neck,a zipper front, or a buttoned front. The garment 100 may be worn bychildren and adult patients.

The patch 110 and the cut out in the garment 100 may be used as theaccess point. In one implementation, the patch 110 may be any type ofmaterial such as velcro, fabric, plastic or alike. In anotherimplementation, the patch 110 may be a mix of different types ofmaterials. The patch 110 may have a size large enough to fit 4×6adhesive or alike, over a needle to secure the needle in place and alsoallows for the patch to be placed back over during treatment if desired.The patch 110 may be placed on different places on the garment 100. Forexample, the patches can be on the left and/or right sides of thegarment at the chest, abdomen, and/or arm. Further, the patch 110 may beplaced on the sleeve portion of the garment 100.

In one implementation, the patch 110 may be provided with the garment100. In another implementation, additional patches may be boughtseparately in numerous colors and designs (ex: pink for breast cancer,red with hearts, or customized with logos for professional, collegiatefootball teams). In various implementations, the entire garment 100 maybe, or may be formed of, the same material as the patch 110. Forexample, the garment 100 and the patch 110 may be formed of neoprene.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example patch 200 in accordance with animplementation. More specifically, FIG. 2 shows the patch 110 of FIG. 1in greater detail. The patch 200 is shown to have a curved rectangularshape. It should be readily apparent that the patch 200 represents anillustration and that its shape, material, color, and othercharacteristics may be changed without departing from a scope of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example garment 300 in accordance with animplementation. The garment 300 according to the present disclosurecomprises an access port 310 and a removable patch 320. It should bereadily apparent that the garment 300 depicted in FIG. 3 represents anillustration and that other components may be added or existingcomponents may be removed, modified, or rearranged without departingfrom a scope of the present disclosure. For example, while the garment300 illustrated in FIG. 3 includes only one removable patch 320, thesystem may actually comprise a plurality of removable patches, and onlyone has been shown and described for simplicity.

The access port 310 may be an opening which passes through the garment300 to provide access to a receiving element or a portion of a person'sskin. The access port 310 may be surrounded with a type of material thatthe patch 320 can attach to (e.g., velco, adhesive). In variousimplementations, the material surrounding the access port 310 may beformed of an elastically stretchable material. The material may bestretched and deformed to provide greater access to the skin under theaccess port 310. The access port 310 may be aligned with an area of skinon a user which must be accessed. Further, the material may be used forpreventing shrinkage to access port, for example, after washing and/oruse.

The access port 310 may be of sufficient size to secure one or more of avariety of medical appliances, including, but not limited to, a G-tube,a catheter, a medical monitor or alike.

The patch 320 may cover the access point 310 completely when the patch320 is attached to the access point 310. More specifically, the seamaround the edge of the patch 320 with velcro may be secured to theunderside that matches up to the velcro on the garment 300.

As illustrated in FIG. 3, the patch 320 may be completely removablepatch. In another implementation, the patch may be used a flap insteadof being totally removed. FIGS. 4 and 5 illustrate such an example.

As shown in FIG. 4, the garment 400 may include a flap 410. The flap 410may be attached to the garment 400, and may be positioned to cover theaccess port in its closed position. The flap 410 may be equipped withholding elements to hold itself in place so that it may be positionedover the access port in the closed position.

Further, as shown in FIG. 5, the flap 520 may be attached to the garment500, and may allow the access port 510 to be exposed in its openposition. The flap 520 may be held in place by securing elements such ashook, loop fasteners, velcro and/or alike. Thus, a healthcareprofessional may open the flap 520 and access the port 510. Further, ifneeded, the healthcare professional may stretch the access port 510 tobroaden the access.

In one implementation, the flap 520 may include a fabric panel sewn tothe garment 500 across the top of an access port and having hooks andloop strips located on respective sides of the flap 520 and access port510. This enables the flap 520 to be folded down to expose the accessport 510 to allow access to the user's body for proceeding with themedical treatment. In another implementation, the hooks and loopfasteners can be replaced with straps, buttons, etc.

In one implementation, the flap 520 is shown to be located under thechest area on the garment 500. In other implementation, the flap may belocated in other parts of the garment. FIGS. 6 and 7 illustrate one ofthose examples in accordance with an implementation.

FIGS. 6 and 7 illustrate an arrangement where the garments 600 and 700have patches 610 and 710 respectively, which are placed on a user's topof the shoulder.

The patch 720 may be attached to the garment 700 at one or moreattachment points. The patch 720 may be detached from the garment 700 atthe attachment points. The attachment points may extend around theentire perimeter of the patch 720 or extend only along select portionsof the perimeter. The location of the attachment points may allow accessto medical devices. For example, the attachment may be located along theupper edge of the patch 720. When the patch 720 is detached or opened,the chest/shoulder of the patient may be exposed, allowing access to amedical device such as a cardiac monitor.

Turning now to the operation of the garment 100, FIG. 8 illustrates anexample process flow diagram 800 in accordance with an implementation.In one implementation, the process 800 in response to receiving aninstruction from a user to use the garment 100 during a medicaltreatment. For example, a chemotherapy patient or dialysis patient mayput the garment on and go to treatment.

The process 800 may begin at block 805, where a removable patch isprovided with the garment. In particular, the garment includes aremovable patch that covers an access port on the garment.

At block 810, the access port allows an open space on the garment. Onsuch space, the user's skin is exposed. At block 815, a medical devicemay be received through the space created by the access port. Forexample, a user may remove the patch during a medical treatment andreceive the treatment with the medical device received through the openspace. In one implementation, the medical device may be kept in placewith the help of the patch. In other implementation, the patch may bekept fully detached. Once the treatment is over and the medical deviceis removed, the patch may be placed back on the access port to cover theopen space.

The present disclosure has been shown and described with reference tothe foregoing exemplary implementations. Although specific examples havebeen illustrated and described herein it is manifestly intended that thescope of the claimed subject matter be limited only by the followingclaims and equivalents thereof. It is to be understood, however, thatother forms, details, and examples may be made without departing fromthe spirit and scope of the disclosure that is defined in the followingclaims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A garment, comprising: an article of clothingcovering at least a portion of a body of a user; an access portproviding an open space through the article of clothing for a medicaldevice; and a removable patch covering the access port.
 2. The garmentof claim 1, wherein the patch is completely separable from the garment.3. The garment of claim 1, wherein the patch is opened while stayingattached to the garment at one attachment point.
 4. The garment of claim3, wherein the patch is adapted to cover the access port in a closedposition and expose the access port in an open position.
 5. The garmentof claim 1, wherein the access port comprises a material surrounding theedges of the access port to adjust the shape of the open space.
 6. Thegarment of claim 1, wherein the access port comprises a materialsurrounding the edges of the access port for the patch to attach to theaccess port.
 7. The garment of claim 6, wherein the material is velcro.8. The garment of claim 1, wherein the patch comprises a materialsurrounding the edges of the patch to attach to the access port.
 9. Thegarment of claim 8, wherein the material is velcro.
 10. The garment ofclaim 1, wherein the access port receives the medical device to beapplied through the open space to the user's body.
 11. The garment ofclaim 1, wherein the garment is a long sleeve shirt.
 12. The garment ofclaim 1, wherein the access port is aligned with a body part of a user.13. The garment of claim 1, wherein the access port and removable patchare located under the chest area of the user.
 14. The garment of claim1, further comprising a plurality of access ports and removable patches.15. The garment of claim 1, wherein the removable patch has a color anddesign.
 16. The garment of claim 1, wherein the removable patch isfabric.
 17. A method of making a garment, comprising: providing anarticle of clothing covering at least a portion of a body of a user, thearticle of clothing having a removable patch situated over an accesspoint, the access point receiving a medical device to be applied to thebody of the user, wherein the garment is used for receiving medicaltreatment.
 18. The method of claim 17, further comprising allowing theuser to choose the removable patch from a plurality of removable patchesover the access point to accessorize the article of clothing.